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This is true for the most part. However, keep in mind that, with few exceptions, government law enforcement agencies typically hire persons with 5, 10, to 15 years law enforcement experience, having already graduated additionally from an accredited police academy (honored by their state training commission). For such persons, FLETC is merely a refresher course for another jurisdiction.

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All police agencies across the board pay new recruits to attend police academies. It is the law. I get a strong impression, that you may be referring to community colleges that offer police certifications--and yes, you will pay out of pocket.

I don't know where you get your information from but it is in correct. Not all agencies "pay for police recruits to attend training", the majority of the nation's departments require certification up front

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I don't doubt that. But like anything in life, experiences can vary greatly...

I've been through two local ones. One was at a community college, and the other was at a regional training center. The community college (self-paid) truly was bare bones. Local officers and deputies were the instructors, and I remember hearing them frequently gush about how much they loved having a second job that paid $20 an hour. The legal classes were taught by a local defense attorney, also overjoyed about having a side hustle. Vehicle stops were practiced in the student parking lot using student cars. Everyone had to buy their own guns and ammo and uniforms and books and lunches. People played hacky sack in the hall between classes. It was like summer camp at a camp where even the candy bars weren't provided without another charge.

The regional one was a bit more flush, but marginally. Basic materials were provided, and a prison-style chow line did feed us. There were a couple of old cruisers in the parking lot and a full size gym and mat room. Classmates still switched good guy/bad guy roles during practical exercises and instructors were mostly on loan for a year from local departments.

Now contrast both of those to Glynco. where you can eat walnut maple ice cream from your dorm toilet thanks to the daily maid service, where they pay role players to get drunk so trainees can practice field sobriety tests on an actual drunk person, where there's a separate recreation department to make sure student morale stays high, well, there's no comparison....

State and local is really a crap shoot depending on who runs (funds) the academy. Most do the best they can with what they have and do a good job.
Federal/FLETC is really a different animal, as mentioned above it is closer to college than the military.
But I will say this, State/local has one major advantage over Glynco, no TSA making the chow line like the rides at Disney. Having been to Artesia and Glynco, I'll go back to Artesia any day.

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State and local is really a crap shoot depending on who runs (funds) the academy. Most do the best they can with what they have and do a good job.
Federal/FLETC is really a different animal, as mentioned above it is closer to college than the military.
But I will say this, State/local has one major advantage over Glynco, no TSA making the chow line like the rides at Disney. Having been to Artesia and Glynco, I'll go back to Artesia any day.

It was amazing last year after the hurricane and TSA didn't come back for weeks. No lines for food and a lot less stupidity on campus. I hated how for TSA Glynco was like a paid vacation essentially and they acted as such.

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How does it even make sense to send non-LEOs to a Law Enforcement academy of any kind, for any length? No offense to any current employees, but there’s nothing a typical TSO does that can’t easily be learned on the job. It’d be like sending unarmed security guards to an academy. Seems like a waste of Govt. dollars.

I imagine it has to do with cost savings. I am not exactly sure what their training consists of but they have mock check points and working X-ray machines. Its probably easy to send them to an existing DHS facility that has the infrastructure to support them, than create a new location. It also likely allows the TSA to ensure they have a level of standardization to their training program.